Eleven Layers of Online Searches
by Barbara Renick
Barb@ZRoots.com
©2012 Barbara Renick
No one search method works all the time. Both online and classic search methods have their
advantages and limitations. Genealogists need to know how to switch from one type of online
search to another. Layering advanced search techniques (from No Name searches to refined
Alphabetical Browsing) helps you find more online before switching to classic resources (books,
periodicals, and microfilms/microfiche).
PART I: ELECTRONIC SEARCHING AND ITS FRUSTRATIONS
A ROSE by any other spelling is often missed by online search tools or buried in a long list of
possible matches.
Alternate Search Techniques:
1. Try just the name (given name and last name) to see how many results you get and where
they come from (particularly the geographic location and the types of records found). For
common names focus on just one record group (example: Tennessee 1860 U.S. Census).
2. Try that name with identifiers (life event words like born or birth, date of life event, place
of life event, place of residence, race, age range, occupation, etc.)
3. Try variations on the names (initials, name abbreviations, nicknames, and phonetic
spellings).
4. Use advanced search features such as phrases in quotes, Boolean operands (AND, OR,
NOT) or the equivalent boxes in an advanced search template (example: with all the
words, with the exact phrase, with at least one of the words, without the words), or wild
card searches (if allowed). Try wild card searches on truncated names and try replacing
the vowels in the first three letters of the name. This is called an AEIOUY search. This
type of search (example: man*, men*, min*, mon*, mun*, and myn*) is very good for
finding not only occurrences of the surname MONDAY, but also MANDEE, MANDIE,
MANDY, MONDEE, MONDY, MUNDAY, and MUNDY.
5. Try searching on no first name (last name only) with geographic limitations to created a
list of everyone with that last name in that town, district, city, (or if a rare name) state.
Watch for the first name in a variant form or the name of someone else in that family or
household. If not found at that location, broaden your search geographically. Study maps
and migration patterns for that area and time period to focus your broadened search.
6. Try searching on no last name (given names only) with geographic and other identifiers.
7. Try searching on no name at all, but rather on identifiers (that are less likely to be spelled
strangely) such as place born, sex, race, age range, occupation, event titles (born, birth,
married, marriage, died, etc.). The search fields available vary with each database and
search engine.
8. Try searching on another name that should be found in that household.
9. Try searching on the name of a known neighbor who should be listed in that record
collection.
10. If allowed, try searching on a combination of related names (example: husband’s
surname AND wife’s maiden name). If a combined search is not available in that
particular online search tool, do these searches separately, print the first fifty or so results,
and manually compare both lists. This type of layered search can be very effective, but
time consuming. To save eyestrain, print to a file and use your Adobe Acrobat or word
processor’s ability to Find on Page [crtl + F].
11. If all of the above fail, try a different search site or a classic resource (book, periodical, or
microfilm/microfiche). (See Part II and Part III.) Layering and comparing classic and
online searches brings the best results when simpler searches fail.
TIP: Try all of the above searches with fewer pieces to match on (if too few matches are found)
or more pieces to match on (if too many matches are returned). Mix and match the pieces you
use in your searches.
NOTE: Numerical ranges (age ranges, ranges of years to be searched, etc.) seem to cause
matches to be missed more often than any other required element in searches. If you don’t find
someone you think should be there, try taking numerical ranges out of your search requirements
first.
PART II: IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED, TRY A DIFFERENT TOOL
Alternate search tools:
1. Use the advanced search features offered at that site. (And yes, you will have to read the
instructions.)
a. Use advanced search templates (when available) that typically offer more filters
b. Add wildcards to your searches (each site does them differently)
c. At Ancestry.com use the Card Catalog link under the Search tab. This allows you
to search or browse a list of all the record collections (30,000+) to find just one
collection to search more deeply. When you use Ancestry’s global search
template, their search engine has to be “dumbed down to the lowest common
denominator,” so searching on just one collection often returns better results.
d. Use browse collections features. At Ancestry.com you have the Browse Records
list (right side of the Search All Records page). This list is organized by
categories, specific types of records, and then individual record collections.
(Example: Historical Records > Census > U.S. Federal Census>1860)
e. Look for geographic tools and filters. (At Ancestry.com this is Explore by
Location using a table or map located below the search template on the SEARCH
ALL RECORDS page under the Search tab.)
2. Try a different search site with a different index to the same records and/or different
search features built into its search tools. Example: Try the head of household only index
to U.S. Federal Census records at HeritageQuest Online if you don’t find the results you
want at Ancestry.com or can’t read a portion of a record you do find (and vice versa).
3. If online searching isn’t returning the results you need, try searching the same records on
CD. Often a CD version of a collection will include additional search features not found
in the online version of that collection. Example: the Pedigree Resource File online at the
classic/old FamilySearch Internet site has only the master index, but not the notes and
sources (even if they were included with the original submission), and very limited
printing capabilities. The CD version has more search features for the master index, even
more search features on each CD in the set, and the ability to view and print in many
different ways.
4. If online and CD searches still don’t return the results you need, search for a book,
manuscript, or microform (microfilm or microfiche) that is likely to contain a record (or a
copy of a record) with the information you are seeking. This seems very basic, but you
would be amazed how many people stop if they can’t find something easily online. Many
people never progress from the simple gathering of the Survey phase of family tree
building to the even more powerful original record Research and Evaluation phases.
NOTE: The smaller the geographic area covered in an index, the more likely the person doing
the transcribing is familiar with the families in that area and the less likely you are to have
transcription errors. But there are exceptions to this rule. The error may be in the original record
and not in the index. Example: one census enumerator listed Edmund GROSS as Ed GOOSE.
PART III: HOW YOU GET THERE DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Why do genealogists pull a book off the shelf and immediately browse the index, but when
searching online they ignore the alphabetical browse options and go straight for the search
templates (where you fill in the boxes for given name, surname, date, place, etc.)?
WorldVitalRecords.com is a commercial genealogy site with the usual basic search template on
its home page. Its strong Browse by Surname feature (the most thorough way to search that site)
is hidden under their Places tab.
To get to the Browse by Surname features at WorldVitalRecords.com:
1. Go to www.worldvitalrecords.com. You do not need to have a subscription to make the
search—you do need one to see the records in which you find results at this site.
2. Hover over the Browse tab at the top of the page and click on Browse by US Databases
3. Scroll to the very bottom of the list (arranged by topics—Family Surnames is the last topic)
4. If you choose the first letter of the surname you are researching under Browse Top Surnames
your surname of interest may or may not be listed. If not, go back and click on the first letter of
the surname under Browse Surname List. (example: R for Renick)
5. Next click on the correct first and second letter of surname (example: Re for Renick)
6. Click on the correct first, second and third letter combination (example: Ren for Renick)
7. Notice many possible alternate spellings start to appear in the listed names found in records in
WorldVitalRecords.com databases. Note that for Ren… only the first 500 results are shown from
a total of 1,469 surnames that start with Ren. Keep narrowing your results while watching for
likely name spelling variations.
8. Once you have narrowed your results alphabetically, simple click on a likely name (like
Renac) and notice the statistics box that appears above the list of categories and specific records
mentioning that name (Renac Results: 1,102 matches in 42 databases…).
What is lovely is that you can tell the surname Renac appears 4 times in the US Naturalization
Records collection at WVR and decide if it is worth paying for a subscription (or finding a
Family History Center or Library with a subscription). Sometimes you can even find that
resource in a source that is free (at a library, archives, or in an online collection).
How to find name variations for your surnames (and given names, too):
1. Check the International Genealogical Index at the old FamilySearch.org site. Notice their
lists of matches include phonetic and regional variations on the first and last names.
NOTE: This search engine, like most search engines, does NOT do vowels well.
Many search tools do not recognize MUNDY is the same as MONDAY.
2. Use the Spelling Substitution Tables for the United States and Canada at the
FamilySearch Research Wiki site (www.familysearch.org > LEARN > Research Wiki >
in the search box type in Spelling Substitution Tables for the United States and Canada
then click on the appropriately titled link in the results list. See the wiki article “Guessing
a Name Variation” that appears in this results list, too. It covers more than twenty ways to
find variant spellings for names.
3. Use the FamilySearch Standard Finder (go to https://labs.familysearch.org then select
Standard Finder and click on the Name tab). You have options to search on a name in a
specified culture (one you choose from the drop-down list) plus first names or last names
with/without prefixes and/or suffixes. Search on the first name Stephen in Continental
Europe (from the Culture list) and you’ll be shocked at the spelling variations to be
considered when searching online for someone named Stephen.
4. Compile you own alphabetical list of surname spelling variations in your word processor
(or in the notes of that person’s record in your personal genealogy program). Track these
spelling variations by location and time period in which they were found and/or proved.
5. See the Names category at Cyndi's List (www.cyndislist.com/names)
It is common for online search tools to offer different search options and return different search
results when approached from different places on the Internet or within a Web site. For example,
clicking on a red link in an entry in the Family History Library Catalog [FHLC] at the classic/old
FamilySearch.org site takes you to online images of that record (most often a scanned then
every-word indexed book) at the BYU Family History Archives at the BYU Lee Library Web
site. There you have the option to search for any word that appears in that one book or file (even
if the original published version of the book does not include an index). However, this approach
does NOT search the other 17,000+ digitized and every-word indexed books in the Family
History Archives collection. The Family History Archives page is actually three separation
search templates although it looks like just one big template: Keyword Search (at the top)
searches just the catalog; Search All (requires you also check the check below to search full text)
does an every-word search of all the items in the collection; and Browse where the drop-down
list lets you select a particular type of material (like Gazetteers or Serials) then browse titles.
NOTE: Clicking on the Advanced Search link above the Browse box takes you out of the Family
History Archives and into the Digital Collections search template on the Harold B. Lee Library
Digital Collections page. Here you have the option to search a wide variety of collections
including historical photographs, historical newspapers, theses, maps, journals and diaries.
(A simpler search template for these collections is found at: http://www.lib.byu.edu/digital/).